The Erasure of Dayzee’s Blackness: Colorism on Soap Operas

23Dec

I am still pissed at how THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL placed Kristolyn Lloyd recurring as Dayzee Leigh Forrester. Although she is doing an upcoming play, I still think colorism had a role in the downsizing of her airtime. It seemed like it was okay when Dayzee was the homeless dark-skinned Black girl whom Stephanie took under her wing from Skid Row and made her acceptable to the Forresters. It was okay when Dayzee romanced Thomas. As soon as she married Marcus, experienced Stephanie’s death, and introduced Maya to Forrester Creations, she was faded out slowly but surely. Daytime television still does not know what to do with dark-skinned African American actresses and Kristolyn was affected by daytime television’s emphasis on colorism in the terms of casting Africans Americans. Yes, daytime television has not done enough to rid of the skin color thing because the casting directors are mostly Caucasian and cast actors and actresses who are either Biracial, light, fair, or brown enough to pass the paper bag test. With the exception of Kristolyn, Sonya Eddy, who plays Nurse Epiphany Johnson on GENERAL HOSPITAL, and Pepi Sunuga, who plays Taylor Dubois on GENERAL HOSPITAL, there are NO dark-skinned African-looking actresses on daytime with significant roles. I wish Kristolyn much success because she did not get it like she should have as Dayzee on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. I am an advocate for African Americans on daytime television and soap operas as blogger and host of CHOCOLATE SUDS. Colorism has to stop and the conversations have to change. I am a Black man who is against colorism and proud to state this. Many Black men may not be against colorism but I am one of the exceptions to the rule.